


The Blood of Poseidon

by Cynder2013



Series: Sisters by the Styx [6]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Murder, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kidnapping, M/M, POV Multiple, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynder2013/pseuds/Cynder2013
Summary: Having a serial killer on the loose would be enough trouble for the summer, but being a demigod means the Fates are always going to go above and beyond when it comes to making your life difficult. When one of their own is taken, it’s a race to mount a rescue mission with communications on the fritz, the Oracle silent and the threat of being too late looming over Camp Half-Blood.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Lacy & Original Female Character(s), Leo Valdez/Sapphire Banks (PJO/HoO OC), Nico di Angelo & The Seven, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Sally Jackson & Camp Half-Blood Campers
Series: Sisters by the Styx [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719322
Kudos: 5





	1. Sapphire I

Sapphire was having trouble looking Dr. Kessler in the eye. It had been more than a year since her last appointment and even though she knew it wasn’t true she felt like Dr. Kessler was disappointed with her. So she focused on the tiny potted succulent on the round table between them. It looked like _Graptopetalum paraguayense,_ Ghost plant. Was that ironic? It felt ironic.

“You said you’ve been having nightmares,” Dr. Kessler said. “Do you want to tell me what they’re about?”

“Fire and people I can’t save,” Sapphire said. The two girls who’d been killed because of her had added plenty to her stockpile of nightmare fuel, but the fire was new. She’d never been scared of fire before. It was starting to seem like a reasonable fear.

“How do you feel about that?” Dr. Kessler asked.

Sapphire laughed. “I want to hate it when you say that, but it’s actually really helpful.” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. “It scares me but it also makes me angry. I should be able to save them.”

“How?” Dr. Kessler asked. “How can you save them?”

Catch Asher faster. Kill him so he can’t hurt anyone again. Kill him so he couldn’t get out of the Underworld in the first place. Don’t talk Nico out of killing him when he wanted to.

Stop a car crash that happened when she was ten years old and nearly a hundred kilometers away.

“I can’t.” Sapphire’s voice cracked and she forced back tears. “Not unless Leo invents a time machine.”

And she would never tell him that, because he would absolutely try to make one. They had enough problems without ripping holes in spacetime.

Sapphire looked up from the Ghost plant for a second. Dr. Kessler was smiling at her. Her stomach twisted and she looked back at the table.

“Should I...not be angry?” Sapphire asked. “I don’t think I can be not angry.”

She wasn’t angry all the time. It came in waves that made her question if gods really didn’t have DNA because volatile emotions were more of a child of Poseidon thing than a child of the Underworld thing. Hades and Poseidon sharing genetic material would offer some explanation for why she’d been acting so much like Percy even though it was a terrible idea if she wanted to continue existing.

She wanted to continue existing. She wasn’t suicidal anymore.

“Take things one step at a time,” Dr. Kessler said. “You know why you’re angry. Now you can figure out if anger will help you or not.”

When she was angry she wanted to destroy stuff. She wouldn’t be able to pay for that much property damage.

“I don’t think it’ll do much good,” Sapphire said. “I don’t need anger to be motivated.” Fighting for her life was motivating enough. “And if I’m lashing out I might hurt someone I don’t want to.”

The image of Asher’s necrotic skin came to mind. She’d used a power she’d never used on a human before and probably hurt him more psychologically than physically. That had been her lashing out due to fear, but her point still stood. She could easily hurt people she didn’t mean to or cause injuries that weren’t planned.

“Like yourself,” Dr. Kessler said.

Sapphire’s head shot up and she looked at Dr. Kessler with wide eyes. “Not on purpose!”

“No, not on purpose.” Dr. Kessler looked over at the clock on her desk. “Oh, we’ve gone overtime. Is there anything else you need to talk about?”

Sapphire shook her head. “No, thank you.” She picked up her purse and rose from the couch. The knife that was fifty percent of her reason for even carrying a purse (the other fifty percent was that her wallet didn’t fit in her pocket, because women’s clothes weren’t allowed to have good sized pockets) clicked against the lighter/sword that only just fit in her pocket. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” Dr. Kessler said with a smile.

Sapphire stopped halfway to the door and turned around. “Your plant needs a bigger pot,” she said quickly. Then she darted out the door without another word.

* * *

It was only years of experience that allowed Sapphire to avoid being bowled over by a sabre-toothed cat when she stepped out of the building that contained Dr. Kessler’s office. She took half a step to the side and Jay came to a stop right where she’d been standing.

_‘All clear,’_ Jay said.

Sapphire scratched her cat behind his ears. He hadn’t switched out of sabre-toothed form since March, when they’d found out that Asher had escaped from the Underworld with Melinoe’s help. If it weren’t for the Mist there would probably be a lot of terrified people running around the parking lot. It had taken a while for him to stop growling at people who saw him as a dog.

“You did good,” Sapphire said. “Come on, home now.”

Jay fell into step beside her as they left the small plaza of doctor’s offices and hole-in-the-wall restaurants (and a Tim Hortons, because Canada). There was a bus stop right before the next intersection but it was nice outside and it wasn’t a very long walk home from Dr. Kessler’s.

Okay, it was an hour’s walk, but she had to keep in shape. Being able to run away from monsters was as important as being able to fight them. It didn’t hurt that she was also avoiding any monsters that happened to be taking public transit.

Far too many monsters took public transit.

They were halfway home when Sapphire sensed another demigod nearby. She rubbed her skull ring, the third easily accessible weapon she was carrying, and looked around. It took a few seconds for her to spot them. She relaxed when she did.

“ _Khaíre_ , Malcolm.” Sapphire spoke when she was still far enough away that Malcolm wouldn’t accidentally judo flip her if she startled him.

Malcolm turned around. He was wearing a grey patch over his missing eye and was carrying a blue satchel with a “Hang in there!” kitten printed on it.

“Hey, Sapphire. How’ve you been?” Malcolm asked.

Sapphire shrugged. “Managing. How about you? How’s school?”

The son of Athena’s eye lit up. He started talking about his math degree and joining his university’s dragon boat team. It turned out that he was only in the area for a kid he was tutoring.

“Are you bussing home?” Sapphire asked.

Malcolm grimaced. “Unfortunately.”

Re: Far too many monsters took public transit.

“Well, it’s not for much longer. It’s back to camp next week,” Sapphire said. “Finally.”

Not only did she miss the small things about Camp Half-Blood—grumbling about early mornings with Nico, sneaking around to set up pranks with Ed, trading book recommendations with Annabeth—but being on guard on the time was exhausting. At camp everyone around her would be able to fight if they needed to and she’d have people she trusted watching her back pretty much all the time.

July couldn’t come soon enough.


	2. Percy II

The night before he and Annabeth were set to go to camp, Percy had a demigod dream. He probably should have expected it. The peace and quiet they’d had since Asher disappeared in March could only have meant that some serious hell was due to break loose. 

Percy’s dream wasn’t one of the useful ones with clear players and stakes. He was sitting in the middle of the arena at Camp Half-Blood playing chess against Michael Yew, the former head of the Apollo cabin who’d died during the Battle of Manhattan. Michael was wearing the armour he’d been wearing when he died and had his quiver strapped to his back. His bow lay on the ground beside him.

“Three times three,” Michael said. “One to live, two for joy and three to die.”

Percy moved his king out of check, though he didn’t play chess in real life and should have had no idea what he was doing. Michael reached across the board and took Percy’s queen, which he placed on the square next to his king.

“I think that’s against the rules,” Percy said. He moved one of his horse-shaped pieces.

Michael picked up one of his own pawns. “Heroes save. You’re a hero, aren’t you?”

There was a crack of thunder and rain began to fall. Michael melted away, leaving nothing behind but his bow and a dropped pawn that had changed from white to black.

Percy woke with his heart racing. Annabeth was sleeping soundly next to him. He looked over at the glowing red numbers on their alarm clock. 3:10 AM, great. Somehow he didn’t think he would be getting back to sleep, which was stupid. It was a demigod dream, not a nightmare.

A few minutes of staring at the ceiling later, Annabeth woke with a start. Percy rolled over so he was facing her.

“Bad dream?” he asked.

“As usual,” Annabeth said. “Something’s coming.”

Percy sighed. “Is it bad that I feel like we should have expected this?”

“No,” Annabeth said. “That’s only logical. We’ve constantly proven that our generation has the worst luck.”

Percy called dibs on not telling Chiron.

* * *

The first day of summer at Camp Half-Blood was always an experience. Since Percy was a senior counselor it was technically part of his job to put out the literal and metaphorical fires that sprung up. That was kind of difficult when the fire was a long time coming and it was probably better to let it burn.

“Who put them up there?” Piper asked.

Percy squinted up at Travis and Katie, who were sitting on top of the temple having an argument that those of them on the ground couldn’t hear. “My guess? Lou Ellen or Sapphire.”

Harley did say that Travis and Katie appeared without warning. Lou Ellen and Sapphire were the only people capable of dropping them on the temple roof who Percy thought would drop them on the temple roof on purpose.

Katie gestured sharply, dragging Travis’s arm along with her’s. The pair of handcuffs chaining them together didn’t give Travis any choice in the matter.

“Should we get them down?” a younger camper asked.

There was an explosion of green as a plant grew in midair and wrapped its vines around Travis’s head, forcing his jaw shut.

“They’re fine,” Percy said. “They won’t cause any permanent damage.”

“And maybe they’ll finally work out the other half of their issues,” Piper said.

That wasn’t likely. Katie and Travis had moved into a permanent rivalry around the time Percy and Jason were getting kidnapped by Hera. They didn’t have issues so much as they had arguments that played on loop and unholy glee at fighting each other during capture the flag. Still, it would be nice if not everything they did was meant to get under each other’s skin.

“Okay, show’s over,” Percy said to the small crowd that had gathered. “Hermes cabin, you have a sword fighting lesson right now and I know you’ve got four new campers so you’d better not make me wait.”

Half of the campers watching Katie and Travis took off running for the arena. Two of the new campers in the Hermes cabin were unclaimed despite being at camp for months. One of them was almost thirteen. Percy was hoping to give them a chance to do something that would remind their parents that they were their children. They definitely weren’t Hermes kids. Nowadays Hermes claimed his children the second they stepped foot into camp.

“Don’t be too hard on them,” Piper said with a smile.

Percy grinned back. “No promises.”

They managed to get through the morning without anyone ending up in the infirmary. Will actually came up to Percy at lunch and thanked him for it.

“You jinxed it, Will,” Sapphire said.

Will narrowed his eyes at her. “You had better not get injured this week.”

“It’s Friday,” Nico said.

“This week or next week,” Will said.

Sapphire smiled sweetly at him. Percy made a mental note to place his bet on Sapphire ending up in the infirmary next Sunday, probably in the morning.

Will muttered something about irresponsible Underworld kids and grey hair before heading back to the table he was sharing with most of his siblings and a few Hephaestus kids. They had something in the works that would definitely blow up at least once before it was finished but would probably be pretty cool. That was the way Cabin Nine projects tended to go when the Apollo cabin was roped in.

Well, the cool part. The explosions were a weekly Hephaestus cabin thing.

“So, what were you and Annabeth talking with Chiron about this morning?” Nico asked.

Percy grimaced and put down his sandwich. “We both had _dreams_ last night.” The emphasis he put on the word made it clear what kind of dreams he was talking about.

Nico’s eyes widened. “You too?”

“You too?” Sapphire asked, half a second behind her brother.

The three of them looked at each other. Percy’s stomach did an unhappy flip. Sapphire turned paler than usual.

“Schist,” Percy said.

“That’s a bad sign, isn’t it?” Sapphire asked.

Four demigods—three children of the Big Three, two of the Seven—all having _dreams_ on the same night? There was no way that wasn’t a bad sign.

Whatever was on its way, it was going to be big and it was probably going to kill people.

No one had been expecting a quiet summer, but _gods damn._


	3. Sapphire III

Day two of the summer session at camp started with an explosion. It was loud and slightly worrying but not really a surprise. Explosions happened at camp all the time. Sapphire would have rolled over and gone back to sleep if the sound hadn’t come from the direct opposite direction of the Ares cabin and its land mines.

“Why?” Nico grumbled. “It’s too early for this.”

Sapphire agreed. She made a sound more suited to a housecat than a (mostly) human girl as she pulled on her shoes and followed Nico out of their cabin. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jay’s ears perk up. The large cat jumped off of the couch in front of the fire and landed softly behind them.

_‘Something sounds strange,’_ Jay said.

Nico suddenly let out a shout and pushed Sapphire back inside. The chunk of stone that fell from the sky missed his head but hit his shoulder with a grisly thud. Sapphire screamed.

“I’m fine,” Nico said through clenched teeth. He held his shoulder still and kicked the door shut behind him. “Let’s try the tunnels.”

“Have some ambrosia,” Sapphire said.

“Better not.” Nico grimaced. “I think some bones are out of place.”

Sapphire winched. “Okay, tunnels.”

There were more faint thuds outside as the rain of rocks continued. Sapphire glared at Nico when he tried to help her open the trapdoor over by the window. He backed up and let her lift the brass ring out of the floorboards, carrying the trapdoor with it. A section of steel ladder slid out of the hole and clicked into place. The extending ladder was a recent addition of Nyssa’s that made it easier to climb down into the tunnel system under camp.

Convincing Jay to shrink so he could fit through the trapdoor was only slightly less difficult than convincing Nico to climb down after Sapphire so she could make sure he didn’t fall. She was terrible at necromancy but she had a lot more fine control than Nico when it came to umbrakinesis. She used Nico’s shadow to make a sling to keep his shoulder still and her own as a bungee cord attaching him to the ladder by his waist that she could expand to catch him if she saw him slip. Luckily, they made it back to solid ground without any accidents.

Someone from the Athena cabin had placed the dates of the tunnels’ creation ranging from the American Civil War at the earliest to World War Two at the latest. They were cut into the bedrock and formed a twisting network that connected nearly every part of camp, in some places extending beyond their borders. Cabin Nine had strung lightbulbs in metal cages along the ceiling like they were on a construction site, which was appropriate considering that there were many areas they were still excavating. The lights were bright enough that people without Underworld-assisted night vision could avoid running into walls but they didn’t help much with navigating the tunnels that split and turned without any rhyme or reason.

“The omega means cabins, right?” Sapphire asked as she examined the walls for any sign of the direction markings the year-round campers had started using.

“Yeah,” Nico said. “Cabin Seven is this way.” He turned left at the fork without even checking. Sapphire would be teasing him about that after the current crisis was dealt with.

They were probably somewhere around halfway to the Apollo cabin when they ran into Connor and Ed. They were trying to get to the Big House but neither of them were year-round campers (anymore, in Connor’s case) and even Ed’s impeccable sense of direction wasn’t enough to help them navigate.

“Chiron probably knows what’s going on already, right?” Connor asked.

Nico rolled his eyes. “How lost are you?”

“Very,” Ed said. “This isn’t anywhere near the climbing wall, Connor.”

Connor shrugged and didn’t look nearly as embarrassed as he should have.

The sons of the god of travelers, everyone.

“Have you seen anyone else down here?” Sapphire asked.

Ed shook his head. “I’m surprised you’re here. The sun’s barely risen.”

“It seemed like the smart thing to do,” Nico said.

That meant that Will was worried about him shadow travelling while injured again, didn’t it? Sapphire hid a smile. Will was overprotective of everyone at camp but it was so cute when he focused it on Nico.

“I can take you to the Big House after we get Nico to Cabin Seven,” Sapphire offered. “Or, you know, to wherever Chiron is by then.” She could aim shadow travel by Chiron’s specific not mortal soul, probably.

Ed paled at the thought, but he nodded. Connor agreed.

Everyone in the Apollo cabin was awake by the time they got there. Kayla let them in. Will was busy splinting Austin’s broken arm.

“Did you try to go outside too?” Sapphire asked.

“Yeah,” Austin said. “It was a bad—ow!—choice. I—ow!—have regret. Ow! So much regret.”

“You’ll live,” Kayla said.

Sapphire really hoped that no one had gotten a rock to the head. Brain injuries were a little beyond the capabilities of the infirmary, even with Will’s super healing powers.

Will ruffled his brother’s hair. “Have some ambrosia.” Then he turned to Nico and sighed. “How did you climb the ladder like that?”

“Very carefully,” Nico said.

Sapphire dispelled Nico’s sling when Will asked her to and then stepped back to let him commence fussing. He muttered about torn muscle and bone shards. Nico didn’t fight him.

“The sky’s still falling,” Connor said, looking out the window. “Any idea where Chiron is, Sapphire?”

“Give me a minute.” 

Sapphire reached out with her Underworld senses. The souls of humans, demigods and magicians were shaped similarly, though it was easy to tell one from the other. It was the same with the souls of animals. The life forces of gods and monsters, on the other hand, only qualified as souls for the lack of any all-encompassing word to describe them. If mortal souls were 3D, then immortal souls were 4D encroaching on the fifth dimension and ignoring all laws of physics.

Chiron’s four-dimensional guiding light was at the very edge of Sapphire’s range, around where the portal to Camp Jupiter was located. She turned to Connor and nodded.

“I call sitting this one out,” Ed said. “I hate shadow travel.”

Considering he’d thrown up when they’d shadow travelled home at the end of last summer, Sapphire was good with that.

“Chiron’s kind of out in the open, so watch your head,” Sapphire said. “What’s your sword arm?”

“Right,” Connor said.

Sapphire loosely grabbed his left arm and called the shadows to take them to Chiron. The rushing cold and wailing ghosts were more chaotic than usual. They had been for more than a year now. Sapphire blamed Melinoe.

They ended up a few meters behind Chiron and what looked like everyone from the Hecate cabin. The group was split between stunned silence and talking over each other in tones of disbelief. It wasn’t hard to see why.

“What the hell?” Connor breathed.

“Oh,” Sapphire said.

The smoking remains of the stone arch that had held the portal linking Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter explained a lot. 


End file.
